I got to fly the 747-400 today for the first time and it was amazing! All the training up to this point has been to prepare me for today, the meat and potatoes of a pilot’s job: Flying the plane. It was stressful, and as I started to fly, the cockpit seemed to get pretty warm, but I was also able to relax and have fun with it too. We’ve often been told that this is the most fun we’ll have during training, so I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.

The -400 is the fourth generation of 747 and currently is the newest iteration until the -8 arrives. It will eclipse the -400 as the newest and best, but at 20 years old, the -400, as good as it is, can certainly be updated in both electronics and fuel consumption. I believe that Cathay will be one of the first operators of the new -8 (Cargolux is the first).

Captain Paul Barton helped to guide me through the skies today. We took off out of Hong Kong and headed to Zhuhai, China, about 50 miles away. It is ideal for practicing touch and go’s because of it’s long runway and its light volume of traffic. We only had to avoid two other planes the whole time we were there.

Also aboard was Obet Mazinyi, a captain transitioning from the older -200 version of the 747, and Claudius Van Heyningen. Obet started us off by flying over to Zhuhai and I brought us back to Hong Kong. Obet only needed three landings because he was already qualified in the 747. I needed six landing as a new pilot on the 747. Finally, Claudius was there as a safety pilot, to help Paul run the checklists and and keep an eye on things. We flew B-HUI, a passenger aircraft for Cathay Pacific.

Our plane was a few minutes late from coming in from LAX, so we all four chatted as we waited for it to arrive. Once it was in the gate, it took a long time for everyone to get off (and there were 10 wheelchair assists!) Once in the cockpit, one of the members of the last crew had typed “Good Luck” into one of the navigational computers so that we’d see it. Obet got the cockpit setup while Paul showed me around the preflight of the instruments and cockpit. Claudius did the walk around and started the coffee for us — how cool!

Everything was uneventful and after Obet’s three landings, it was my turn. We stopped on the taxiway and I climbed up into the seat. Wow! I was sitting thirty feet off the ground and at the controls of a beast. In the 747, unlike a lot of planes, there are steering tillers on both sides of the cockpit. So, if it is the copilot’s turn to fly, he taxis as well. There is a groundspeed readout on one of our instruments, and we have to use that to tell how fast we are actually going because we sit so high up. Without looking at the speed, one might be going 60 before they realized they were taxiing too fast. It’s all about perspective.

I taxied down to the end of the runway, and Paul did the first takeoff and landing so I could see things from up front, and then it was my turn. All four Rolls Royce engines rumbled to life and we sped down the runway. “Rotate” was Paul’s call, and I pitched the nose up to 12.5 degrees, and we were off! All in all, I feel like I did pretty well. The training in the sim is helpful, but nothing can prepare you for landing the real airplane. Small corrections, easy on the controls, and then listen for the callouts. The computer will call “50, 40, 30, 20, 10” As in feet off the ground as you come into land. As a matter of fact, when sitting on the ground, the radio altimeter (which shows us how high we are off the ground below us) shows -8 feet. That’s because it’s set to read zero when the wheels first touch down. The whole landing gear are so massive and huge, that they and the struts compress a full 8 feet from touchdown to full weight on wheels. Amazing.

At “30” we are easing the yoke back to flair above the runway. At “20” we ease the power back to idle by “10” and then wait for the wheels to start rolling. It was beautiful and I wish all my readers could have been there with me. I gave my camera to Obet and he took a few photos. I’m sweating in most, and looking cheesy in others, but I’m glad to have a record of today because it was a monumental day. After returning to Hong Kong, I taxied us into a stand and we had some free meals on the plane: heated meat pies (chicken pot pies) cheese, coffee, milk, water, fruit, whatever we wanted. I ate a lot to save on lunch money later! Then, the van came by to pick us up to take us back to the terminal.

I can still remember my first landing, all by myself, in Marion, Indiana. Steve Manganello was my instructor, and with a hand-held radio by the side of the runway, he watched as I did my first solo flight in a Cessna 172. Now, some 14 years later, almost to the day, I’m reliving my dream of being an airline pilot. All those years of wanting to fly a 747, all that time growing up in Indonesia and riding on 747’s and wanting to be up front, all the heartache to get here to Cathay now all seems worth it and I can finally stop dreaming and start flying.

The training ahead will be very tough as there will be much expected of me, but for now, I can revel in the glory of having said that I’ve flown a 747. And what a moment it was, indeed.